Art Dictionary by Arcy Art Original Oil Paintings

Click on a letter to view definitions of art terminology beginning with that letter.

ART DICTIONARY - C

Calligraphy - Drawn from the Greek origin of the word, calligraphy can be described simply as the art of beautiful writing ...more info
Canvas - In relation to art, canvas is a heavy-duty fabric that is usually primed and stretched so that it can be used as a painting surface ...more info
Caricature - A portrait that exaggerates or distorts the features of a person is called a caricature ...more info
Cartoon - In art a cartoon is a drawing of the compisition of the final work ...more info
Casein paint - Derived from milk casein paint is a fast-drying, water-soluble painting medium used by artists...more info
Catenary - Catenary is used to describe the curve assumed by anything hanging freely between two points of suspension ...more info
Ceramics - Ceramics in the art world refers to artwork molded out of clay. ...more info
Charcoal - Artists use charcoal for finished drawings or as rough sketches for paintings ...more info
Chiaroscuro - Chiaroscuro applies to the brightnes and darkness in paintings when tone rather than colour is the dominant characteristic ...more info
Clay - Clay is the most widely used modelling material in sculpture and has universally been available since the beginning of time ...more info
Cliché Verre - In this process a piece of transparent material is painted with an opaque paint. Images are drawn on this opaque paint to expose its transparency ...more info

Collage - Collage is the technique of sticking or attaching pieces of paper and other materials to a flat ground ...more info
Colour - The study of colour falls into three field: physics, physiology and psychology ...more info
Colour Wheel - The colours of light can be arranged in a circle, called the colour wheel ...more info
Composition - In art, composition refers to the structure, organisation and arrangement of the art work ...more info
Complementary Colours - Two colours are seen to be complementary colours if when they are mixed together they produce a shade of gray or brown ...more info
Conceptual Art - Art in which the concept behind the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns is called conceptual art ...more info
Conté - Conté is a synthetic black, red, brown or white chalk ...more info
Contrapposto - Contrapposto is an Italian word that describes a pose in which one part of the body is twisted in the opposite direction from that of the other ...more info
Convention - Convention in art is a term used to describe an accepted way of representing something ...more info